


Redundancy

by gwydionx



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Under the Red Hood
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 21:04:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8462893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwydionx/pseuds/gwydionx
Summary: “You’ve got some balls.” Jason’s growl blasted through the voice mod. “Fucking seven of them, and Nygma. The next time you leave me to clean up your mess, I’m doing it my way.”
Jason is pissed. Bruce is Bruce.





	

Jason slammed his gun down on the table. “What the fuck was that?”

Bruce looked up from his monitor, completely nonplussed. Jason looked like something the cat dragged in—torn jacket, dented helmet he hadn’t bothered to take off, and a spattered layer of someone else’s blood. And he was pissed.

“You’ve got some balls.” Jason’s growl blasted through the voice mod. “Fucking seven of them, and Nygma. The next time you leave me to clean up your mess, I’m doing it my way.”

The threat carried weight, but beneath the rage, Bruce read the unstated truth—despite the blood, Red Hood left the offenders alive. He regarded his one-time protégé with calculated silence.

It incensed Jason. “Oh, sure, give me the _Look_. You know I’m right,” he snapped. “You never would’ve left one of your lackeys to clean up an armed eight-man break-in all on their fucking own.”

Bruce blinked, speaking for the first time. “No. I wouldn’t.”

“Then what the _fuck_ , Old Man? Did Luthor loosen your brainstem, or do you really just give that little of a shit?”

Bruce hadn’t moved. “We work multiple teams, Jason. Occasionally that requires us to prioritize alerts.”

Jason huffed, a sneer on his grizzled features. “Prioritize? You get a buzz from your Superfreaks, and I’m just shit out of luck?” The anger burned inside him, searing like a brand. “That’s real nice, Bats. I’ll be sure to tell my replacement.” He gripped his gun and turned, intent on leaving this shithole and everyone in it to the dust.

Bruce’s even voice followed him. “I left a planned mission in the hands of a capable colleague.”

Jason froze.

Bruce continued, calm as ever. “I assessed the risks of both the mission and the League alert. My presence on the break-in was redundant. My place in the Justice League is not. There’s no member with my equivalent experience available to them. Since the threat was immediate, I deemed my presence more necessary in Metropolis.”

Jason heard the words. He comprehended. But his brain still snagged on the casual statement— _colleague._

Colleague.

 _No equivalent._ Which meant Bruce thought he _was_ equivalent. He was an equal.

Jason’s fist clenched. He turned back to find Bruce leveling him with that indecipherable calm. “You mean that?”

Bruce raised a single brow. Jason knew that look—the Bat equivalent of, ‘did I stutter?’.

“You give the most under-fucking-handed compliments. You know that, right?”

“It was an observation,” Bruce answered, deadpanned. “Adjust your expectations accordingly.”

He huffed, but caught the glint in Bruce’s eye. The smallest smile crept into the corners of Jason’s mouth. He wouldn’t let on more than that, though—Bruce was still a bastard. “Do me a favor, Old Man,” he growled on his way up the stairs. “Next time, send a fucking Hallmark card.”

 


End file.
